LEGENDARY racing driver Sir Stirling Moss has thrown his weight behind a bid to bring top class motor racing back to Aintree.

LEGENDARY racing driver Sir Stirling Moss has thrown his weight behind a bid to bring top class motor racing back to Aintree.

The circuit, alongside the world-famous horse-racing course, holds special significance for Sir Stirling who won the 1955 Grand Prix there in a Mercedes, his first Grand Prix win.

Now he is supporting the organisers of a motor racing festival in November in their calls for the track to be reinstated for international racing events.

Sir Stirling told the Daily Post: "It is nice to think that a track which had such a reputation could be returned to use for international racing.

"It could not be used for a grand prix, in the same way that a grand prix in London is just a pipe dream, but I am sure that other formulas of racing and sports cars could use the track regularly. It would be feasible to update the circuit for races that were not as expensive."

Sir Stirling will be driving the course in November, 20 years to the day since it was last used.

Mike Ashcroft, from the Circuit Club and director of the organising firm CCUK Media, said the annual festival was set to be the first of five in the run-up to Liverpool's Capital of Culture Year in 2008.

Aintree's racetrack was purpose-built for motor racing, compared to Silverstone which was built on a disused airfield.

Sir Stirling said: "Aintree was difficult to drive because it was a sort of clover shape so you had to speed up to 120mph then slow right down to 50mph and back up again to top speeds, so it was hard work for the driver and for the car, particularly the brakes."

Moss won the 1955 Grand Prix with one of the narrowest margins in motor racing history of 0.2 seconds and also took a pit stop which was virtually unprecedented at that time.

Team mate Tony Brooks, who will also be at the festival, was racing in 1955 with injuries after being in a shunt in a previous race.

Sir Stirling said: "Tony was in quite a bit of pain so we agreed that if anything went wrong with my car then he would come in and stop and I would use his car, you were allowed to do that in those days, you're not now.

"So I ended up in the pit lane waving my helmet at him because we didn't have radios of course, and he came in, was heaved out of the car and I jumped in and continued.

"We never did stops in those days to change tyres or add fuel, and it was a minimum of five hours or 300km races.

"So it was quite an achievement not only to have won the British Grand Prix but also to have stopped for at least 25 seconds in the middle of it all! Tony and I shared the points."

The three-mile Grand Prix track runs along the outside of the horseracing track at Aintree and then crosses over on the country side to the inside of the horse racing circuit. Each year, when the Grand National is televised, the TV car drives along the Grand Prix circuit.

On the Saturday and Sunday, the festival will combine motorsport and steeplechasing.

* Further details are available at website address www.ccuk.com/aintree.htm or by calling Mike Ashcroft on 07821 230961 or by email to mja@afms.info